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The self dubbed SuperMajor is upon us. 16 teams will battle in two groups to be seeded into a double elimination bracket where the first two rounds of the lower bracket will be bo1's. The format is a little bit more unique this time around as the bottom two teams from each group will be forced to play through two bo1's to advance through to bo3's. However given recent tournament formats this is hardly the strangest we've seen over the last few months, it's actually pretty good. So sit back and enjoy as the Supermajor promises to bring a lot of thrilling games over the course of the event.

The “Old” Guard

Only a few years ago fans of Chinese Dota were in fear that the older generation of players weren’t giving enough opportunity to the young up and coming stars which was causing lackluster performance from their teams. Now the likes of Newbee, VG, LGD, and VGJ.Thunder are all a mixture of well established players and relative rookies looking to make their mark on the scene. In the case of Newbee they’ve already made their mark. Moogy and Sccc have proven to be brilliant players worthy of being called two of the very best at their roles. Kpii has been the ever consistent offlaner and Faith and Kaka were the best support duo in China.

However recently that has changed. Vici Gaming began their ascent with LaNm and Fenrir molding Paparazi and Ori into Moogy and Sccc’s equal and through that began to advance to the finals of tournaments. VGJ.Thunder saw the rise of Sylar once more as he paired up with DDC and immediately it proved to be a recipe for success. Freeze, Yang and Fade supplementing their experience with raw individual skill, which paired quite well with the leadership qualities that DDC and Sylar can bring. More recently we have seen FY and Maybe see success on LGD as they teamed up with xNova, Chalice, and Ame winning multiple qualifiers inside of China. The old guard have learned new tricks and while the likes of Secret, Liquid, and VP have all stood in their way at previous Major’s that may not be the case during DAC.

Along for the ride

IG are the defending champions of DAC with 3 of the 5 members from their win remaining on the roster. During the last DAC they discovered that if they could give Op Lina their success was nearly guaranteed, setting the trend for future events. Will Boboka and Q manage to find a similar winning formula with Xxs? That is unlikely but given Agressif’s known for his Gyrocopter and how popular the hero is currently perhaps he will give them a path to victory. Keen gaming on the other hand made it through the qualifier by coming first place in their group, a somewhat surprising result given their recent performance in other qualifiers. While Keen’s performance was looking up shortly after TI7 they have slipped back into the muddied waters of Chinese qualifiers after the stronger teams finalized their rosters. Between these two it would be quite a feat if either of them finished in the top 4 but at the same time Keen Gaming just making it to the event is already a success worth celebrating for them, anything more would just be gravy.

Time to make a move

Mineski sits just outside the top 8 on the DPC leader board and DAC offers them the perfect chance to knock another team down with a top 3 finish. Even coming 4th would move them ever so close to Na`Vi who currently sits 8th at 1199 points. Mushi and Iceiceice started off this iteration of Mineski with a bang, coming 2nd at the first DPC event and even defeating Team Liquid during the PGL Open Bucharest Minor. For a team who sat in first place at the start of the season it must be difficult to be on the precipice of not receiving an invite. Mineski’s 2-0 victory over TnC got them to DAC but their last two tournament appearances were fairly short lived, both Katowice and the Bucharest Major ended at the hands of OG who are hardly in the greatest shape themselves. Mineski needs to prove that they still have what it takes during DAC to at least make a decent top 8 showing or future events may see them separate from the top 8 even further.

TnC are much worse off than Mineski in terms of points earned this season being 13th overall. They have finished 2nd at five different SEA qualifiers which makes their appearance at DAC all the more important. They have had one 2nd place finish at MDL Macau which is where they earned the 90 points that they currently have to their names. Kuku’s switch to the 5 position after the addition of Armel and removal of 1437 has not changed much about the team. Raven and Sam_H still play very similarly and Armel has been able to fill Kuku’s mid lane quite well. The difference may actually be in the loss of Kipspul, the teams analyst who helped them come up with strategies against specific opponents. It would explain some of the unpreparedness we have seen from TnC after her departure.

The European Trinity

Throughout the entire DPC season three teams from Europe have stood just a cut above the rest of the competition. DreamLeague Major winners Team Secret, back-to-back Major champions Virtus.Pro, and the reigning TI-champions Team Liquid. Coming back to the birthplace of the “Major”-concept at DAC they are all easily among the favorites to take it all. For each team however there is also another thing at stake. The CIS-squad of Virtus.Pro arrives in Shanghai with the chance to catch up to the historic landmark of 4 Major championships that OG had reached within 2015-2017. Meanwhile Secret is looking for a high finish to also secure their tickets to The International 2018 in Vancouver. While the TI invite must also be on the back of their minds, Team Liquid’s pride has been stung repeatedly by still missing out on a Major title and they will be looking to rectify their record.

All 3 teams come into Shanghai in good form. Virtus.Pro coming off their 2 major championships (and a nice big prize money check for 4 of them at WESG) will be looking for a third consecutive show of dominance. Team Secret have secured a win at the DreamLeague Minor and looked strong throughout the tournament, while Team Liquid has managed to secure a Top 3 finish with coach Heen standing in for Miracle-. Shanghai will most likely be another battleground where these 3 titans will duke it out among themselves.

The “How good are they actually?” corner

Behind the three-headed vanguard invading China to steal Pro Circuit points sit a plethora of less prestigious names that are all craving for a spot at the top, especially for the representatives of North American Dota. The state of their scene is a constant worry as they simply seem to be “not top-tier” yet. Memes aside EG’s issues are stemming from their inconsistency. On their good days they can easily challenge the established tier 1 teams and take maps and series off of them, but more often than not EG just fizzles out without much impact. Easily evidenced by their recent tournament finishes with a minor Championship at Jakarta but also 2 very average Top 8 placements in the last Majors. DAC is another chance for them to prove themselves “top-tier” to all these “punks” and overcome their inconsistencies.

Lurking in the shadows behind EG are Optic Gaming. Back at the team’s inception many fans had very high hopes for the team but the ongoing season has not been very successful. With ups and downs throughout their performance in the various NA qualifiers Optic has not been impressive at all. Even at the two Majors they managed to qualify for their results were just average. Then again looking at their games, they did show some promise, such as the Bo1 they took off of VP in Bucharest, but a full series against established teams is still too much to handle for ppd&co. as they crumbled at crunch time in Bo3’s against Team Liquid and Virtus.Pro. Shanghai will have to be a very different affair for them to not disappoint the high hopes the “Green Wall” has placed in them.

“We got a free trip to China!”

The 3 remaining teams from the western hemisphere have unfortunately decidedly less good odds for this tournament. Placing OG in this category feels weird at first, but after repeated thinking it feels inevitable. With their recent removal of Resolution from the roster, they have been unable to catch a break and their play with 7ckingMad has not been the solution they have hoped for. With little time to prepare and the current state of their play I foresee little chance for OG to make it deep into the tournament. Then again maybe it will all just come together for them at Shanghai and they could pull out some of their old Major magic to make it far, I just would not bet on it.

Another tourney, another herculean challenge in front of them, must be what goes through Pain Gaming’s mind every time they qualify. Being part of the eternal SA doormat at Pro Circuit tournaments, but there is little signs of it changing any time soon. While Pain Gaming has shown improvement from tournament to tournament (last seen at the DreamLeague Minor) the entire region is just too far behind to be able to catch up this soon. Maybe next time.

For Team Effect it must already be a pleasant surprise for them to have made it out of the CIS qualifiers with more established names such as Na´Vi, Empire, Vega Squadron and Team Spirit all in the running as well. But I foresee a similar experience for them such as the one they got in Katowice. I do not want to belittle their success of qualifying too much but the CIS scene has been very volatile and the level of competition at DAC is just a level above what Effect can deal with at their current strength.

The European trinity is so strong that I am very much doubtful of any of the Chinese teams being able to take the championship. A finals appearance and 2 of the top 4 spots could happen but more than that I just can't believe in.

On the other hand Liquid has had a pretty good track record when in China (excluding DAC last year where they got bo1'd by Faceless..)

On March 27 2018 23:02 maze. wrote:Make or break for EG after they failed to qualify for two majors.

Curious to see if LGD can keep their current form against international competition.

In EG's defense, their whole team was incredibly sick after getting back from the GESC Minor which probably impacted their play

I don't think they're at a huge risk of losing their top 8 spot, since it'd require multiple teams outside top 8 (probably Fnatic and LGD) to get top 2 placings, which isn't impossible, but is still a longshot at tournaments that are going to have VP/Liquid/Secret

Group A looks exciting, LGD is probably the best chinese team atm, but they haven't played much against non chinese teams, but their playstyle looks kinda close to western teams. Think they can take #1 in groups, Likkid have kinda weak b01 games